Knucklebones
by jewlbird
Summary: Just a little something I cooked up. Follow Eragon as his love life takes a turn when he agrees to heal a mysterious girl who is all too eager to reveal her secrets. Does she have ulterior motives? It all starts with the Knucklebones... EragonxOC
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! Like it said in the summary, this is just a little something I cooked up when I was bored. I'm not really sure where it's going to go from here. I replaced some of the content from the original, and I think it's a little better.  
Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Inheritance Cycle, or any of the characters.**

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"Wait!" Eragon turned around. Behind him was a young woman, running after him, her skirts dragging behind her.

The girl locked eyes with him, and Eragon's heart thumped in his chest. It was the same girls that he had blessed not a few months ago, the one that had been with the older woman, the one that Angela had thrown the knuckle bones for. Though, she hadn't looked quite so weary and sick before.

The girl stared too, and then blinked, apparently remembering her manners.

When she spoke, she stuttered on her words. "Good afternoon, Slade Shayer- I mean Shade Slayer!" She curtsied and bowed her head low, but Eragon still saw the blood rush to his cheeks.

He laughed softly and the girl blushed an even deeper red.

"You may rise," Eragon said, willing himself to see her pretty face again. She had dark curly hair that was crudely chopped off just above her shoulders, though it did nothing to detract from her beauty. _It makes her look even more enviable_, Eragon thought to himself.

The girl lifted her head. "Thank you, Rider." She looked faint.

Before Eragon could stop himself, the words came out. "Please call me Eragon."

_Eragon! _Saphira's voice came into his mind like a mental thunderstorm. _You've just met her! She could be a spy from the Empire, or worse, the Black Hand of Galbatorix!_

_You're overreacting!_ Eragon said. Then he added a little sheepishly, _I couldn't help it._

_Well next time,_ Saphira said, _do help it!_

"Your name is Eragon?" The young woman asked, and Eragon noticed that he had taken a relatively long pause with Saphira, who he now sensed swooping above them.

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

"Half the Empire is not even aware you have a name. It's lovely."

Eragon blushed. "We've met before, have we not?" He asked quickly.

The girl blushed again. "Yes. My aunt and I. We were traveling and we decided to.." The girl hesitated. "To, how shall I put it? Aid in the battle of Feinster."

"How did you 'aid'?" Eragon Had expected the answer to be something like, "Tended to the injured, or, "Helped evacuate families."

The girl smiled. "We fought like mad dogs." She suddenly swayed tediously to the left, and Eragon had to dart to catch her.

Eragon raised his eyebrows. "Did you?" Eragon but a hand on her forehead. It burned with fever. "You're ill?"

The girl nodded, and pulled at the cuff on her slightly tattered beige dress and began to unlace it up to her shoulder. Under it was a bandage that she quickly unraveled. What Eragon next saw made him have to stifle a gasp.

All the way up the girl's arm, just above her wrist to right under her shoulder, was the most horrifying cut Eragon ever seen.

"A townsman had at my arm with a sword. Slashed me well." She said ruefully, glancing down at the wound, which was green around the edges oozed sickly liquid.

"How are you still alive?" Eragon asked slowly as he examined the young woman's arm. It was obviously atrociously infected and there were signs of blood poisoning.

"My aunt has been making poultices for it. It's what I came to about, Eragon," The girl's voice was raising in hysteria, but Eragon liked the way she said his name. "Please, Eragon, where I come from, it's not custom ask for help with a battle wound and my aunt ordered me to tell no one of it. But I cannot survive like this. My aunt is on an errand, please, please help me Shade Slayer!" She cried, reverting to his public name.

"Of course," Eragon said soothingly. He continued to asses the severity before realizing that Wiese Heil was not going to repair it. There was far too much flesh rotting to succeed with that spell.

Finally he settled on a spelling and put a hand on the girls' upper arm and muttered the words.

The young woman hardly flinched as the decaying skin righted itself, and the wound healed over without even a scab. When it was done, she threw her arms around Eragon.

"Thank you, thank you!" she said tears welling in her eyes.

Eragon, surprised by the gesture, did not try to pull away.

_Not another love interest, _Saphira groaned in Eragon's mind.

_Oh, be quiet!_

_May I speak to her?_

_You may scare her._

_She is well aware that you are a dragon rider, as well as everyone else in Feinster! Besides, with a wound like that, she couldn't be especially easy to scare._

_Alright, but make yourself seen first._

The girl's eyes widened when Saphira landed next to Eragon, but she quickly pulled away from Eragon, curtsied and said, "Good afternoon, Brightscales."

_At least she has good manners, _Saphira conceded to Eragon, and then spoke to the girl. _Good afternoon._

The girl looked astonished that Saphira was speaking to her.

Eragon ignored it. "Tell me, young maid, what is your name?"

The hesitated for a long while, and Eragon half expected her to turn on her heel and leave.

The girl finally replied, "Annalisa."

"A wonderful name," said Eragon. "Now, you said we have met before. Was it when Angela threw her knuckle bones for you?" He knew perfectly well, though he wished to prolong the conversation with the girl for as long as possible.

"Angela?"

"The witch," Eragon explained.

"You give up her name very easily, Eragon Shade Slayer," said the girl—Annalisa. "Names have great power. But yes, that is when we met. You and you dragon blessed my aunt and myself. Now that I have given up the secret of my name, I wish to know one of yours. Who is your father?"

_How did she even know I had any relation to Murtagh in the first place?_ Eragon wondered.

_Eragon, _Saphira cautioned, _she is trying to retrieve information from you! You cannot tell her this. She already knows too much. You may even have to turn her in to Nasuada if she has this kind of information about you!_

_Stop worrying so much. If she was an enemy, then why did she reveal her name to me? It obviously wasn't something she usually does. And why would she even have been fighting in the siege of Feinster if she wasn't on out side?_

_She could have easily made up that story and got the cut from somewhere else, _Saphira insisted. _She could've made up that name!_

_If she was our enemy, why would her and her aunt have passed right through the Varden's camp a few weeks ago? They could have attacked us with such ease the matter is not even amusing!_

"Why do you wish to know this?"

"My aunt and I can help you. We have information about the Empire you never could have even _dreamed_ of, Eragon! As a matter of fact, as soon as my aunt returns, she intends to speak to your leader."

"That does not answer my question."

The girl sighed. "I suppose it is a mystery I have been trying to solve ever since you became a Rider."

That answer satisfied Eragon. After all, what did it matter that anyone knew Brom was his father? Brom had been a great man, and Eragon was not ashamed to be his son.

"I am Eragon, son of Brom."

"You closely resemble him," Annalisa commented.

Eragon raised an eyebrow. "Do I?" He had never thought he really looked like either of his parents.

"Oh yes," She assured him, "My aunt and I, we study the parentage of

Dragon Riders. We have thus deducted that some people become Riders by

chance, but if your one of your parents was a Rider—mainly the father—if there

is a dragon egg brought before you, it will hatch for you."

"For sure?" Eragon wondered aloud. Ideas where quickly forming in his mind. If

he had a son, would a dragon hatch for his son of daughter?

"From what we've seen in our research, the son of a Rider, if presented an egg, will become one himself."

"How very interesting," Eragon mused. "Now this only with sons?"

"There are no records of it happening with any daughters."

"That explains some things," Eragon said absently. Him and Murtagh both being the sons of Riders.

"Explains what, Eragon?"

Eragon told her of his theory.

_You have just revealed another secret to her,_ said Saphira, _Eragon, you must realize, telling anyone anything, Nasuada, Arya, Orik, could be our down fall. Even if she is a harmless girl, she could be abducted by the Empire and have the information pried out of her. The less people who know these things, the better._

_I'm just helping her with her research,_ Eragon said innocently.

_You're acting like a love struck fool, that's what you're doing._

"Murtagh is your half brother?" Annalisa asked.

Eragon coughed. "Yes, he is my half brother, but I do not consider him my family. We have no similarities."

"Besides the fact that you are both Riders."

"Yes, I suppose." Then a question occurred to him that he had never wondered about anyone before. "Can you use magic?"

The girl cocked her head. "A bit." Was all she said.

"Eragon!" came a shout from one of the run down buildings of Feinster, the one that Nasuada was staying in. "How long are you going to linger about my… dwelling?"

Eragon had recently been speaking about the next leg of the Varden's journey.

He grinned broadly. "As long as you see fit, my lady."

Annalisa stared at Nasuada in awe.

"Who is your friend, Eragon?" Nasuada asked.

"I am not sure if she sees fit to reveal her name, but she claims to be a friend of the Varden. She is here with her aunt."

_And Eragon has revealed half of his secrets to her in the course of five minutes,_ Saphira told Nasuada.

"What have you gotten into this time?" Nasuada said, soft and venomous.

_It's nothing, really. _Eragon sent to Nasuada.

"May I invite you in, young maid? Eragon, I also wish to speak with you."

"I wish to retrieve my aunt before we meet with you, Lady," said Annalisa, "She should be back from her errand now."

"Well, make haste, for I have free time today."

The girl nodded and ran almost as fast as Eragon could himself

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**Tell me what you think! Please, if you read, reveiw! It really makes it worth my time to get feedback from you guys!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's chapter 2! Hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Inheritance Cycle.**

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"Eragon," Nasuada tapped her foot as Eragon followed her into her tent. Eragon braced himself for a lecture of monument. Nasuada continued, "From what Saphira has told me you have kindly informed the young lady we have just encountered of some vital information."

Eragon scowled. He had revealed nothing that would put the Varden's position in jeopardy. "I haven't revealed anything of the Varden. Just of my family."

"Eragon," Nasuada said with a moment's hesitation. "I know if what occurs when you act on upon.. Impulse. Arya has a great many tales of them."

"I did not say anything to put anyone in a position of danger,"Eragon argued, "Except myself perhaps. And if I did, I apologize andwill correct my mistake as best possible."

Nasuada had evidently ignored what Eragon had said. (Why does it matter to her?) Eragon wondered heatedly.

(She is just worried about the Varden. You should think before you act, Eragon, and think of the Varden like Nasuada,) said Saphira.

"What you tell her, Eragon?"

"No matter to you," Eragon snapped. He saw no need to divulge in what he had said, if only he was to be ridiculed for it.

Nasuada's eyes bore into Eragon's. "As your liege lord, I order you to tell me what you told the young lady."

Eragon gaped at her. Nasuada had never out right ordered him to do something. He remained quiet for a few moments.

"Out with it," she commanded. "Or is your silence a refusal?"

"I apologize, Nasuada, and I have seen the error of my ways," Eragon said sincerely. "I should not have revealed any secrets, no matter how vital they may seem, or may have seemed to me at the time."

"Answer my question, Eragon," Nasuada said through gritted teeth, Eragon's apology pushed aside. "Or I shall have to have you whipped in the presence of the entire Varden, a prospect I have very much wished to avoid."

"Very well. I told her that I was the son of Brom and the brother of Murtagh.

"I suppose your genealogy is not of as great importance as I imagined. I too apologize for my outburst."

"Lady Nasuada," Arya burst into the house. "I am sorry if I have interrupted your conversation, but I have a great need at the moment."

Arya's hair, usually held in place by a cloth band, was sticking up at strange angle and she looked bedraggled.

"What is the matter, Arya? I have an important guest arriving in a few minutes," Nasuada said rather brusquely.

"The people of the Varden. They insist upon having a social gathering!"

_Preposterous, _Saphira said sarcastically.

"A social gathering?" Nasuada inquired. "Surely you could've handled that yourself, Arya."

"You know I would've, Lady, but it seemed as if every subject of the Varden were protesting to King Orrin. We need your assurances."

"We haven't the time for this," Nasuada sunk into her high back chair that seemed to always be where ever she stayed. "We should've moved on to the next city of the Empire days ago."

"Why should the people be denied a social gathering if they desire it?" Eragon asked. Though, being on the brink of war at every moment, he did not think it would be a very cheerful event, but Eragon agreed that the tense atmosphere would become much less because of it.

"If we stay long enough to arrange such an occasion, it may be too late to remain on the upper hand to the Empire. Every day counts as a year would!"

"The citizens are set on it," Arya explained further.

"It shall have to wait," Nasuada replied at a knock on the door.

Arya bowed her head slightly and was about to slip out of the room when Nasuada stopped her. "Arya, you may be interested in this."

Two women entered the room and bowed to Nasuada.

"Lady Nasuada," said the woman Eragon presumed to be Annalisa's aunt. "As I'm sure my niece has told you, we can be of great help to the Varden. We lived in Urubaen until only a short while ago," She paused, expecting Nasuada to say something. When she did not, the woman continued. "Being in close proximity to King Galbatorix, I could not help but explore the origins of his birth. I my niece and I study Dragon Riders. I gained an audience with the King." She paused again.

_An audience with King Galbatorix! _Eragon thought._ That could not be something granted every day._

_She appears to be of some importance. _Said Saphira._ But she will not find such significance in the Varden._

"How, if I may be so bold to ask, did you obtain this audience with the King?" Arya asked quietly, and the woman seemed to notice her standing in the corner.

"I am a scholar. The King loves nothing more, or so he told me, to have his triumphs and life plastered in history and books."

"Continue."

"He created a beautiful picture of the world he wished to be for me, excluding a few things, of course. He wants to bring the Dragon Riders back into existence…" The woman continued to tell all Galbatorix wished the Empire to be. Eragon noted apparent weaknesses and strengths. It seemed that Galbatorix would go to no ends to create his dream of an Empire.

_Murtagh told us of how Galbatorix described his desires, _Saphira said. _It couldn't be possible for Galbatorix to all bad. He may believe he is trying to do the right thing._

_That explains why he is constantly trying to capture us every chance he gets._

_Little One, _Saphira scolded. _You must understand that he is only trying to remove the weakest links in the chain. If you are not going to be loyal to him, no matter how useful you could be, you are no good to him._

_He cannot get rid of you,_ Eragon carped. _You're the only female dragon left in existence!_

_And a key part of his plan. He must capture us to achieve his ideal Empire. _Saphira concluded.

_Then why doesn't he attempt to capture only one of us?" _Eragon pondered._ If he captured you alone, he wouldn't even have to bother with me. Or if he captured me, you would surely surrender to his will, if only to keep me alive._

_We rarely leave each others side. Believe me when I say this, Eragon, I have pondered these very ideas for hours at a time, which is why I was so hesitant to allow you to go to Farthen Dur yourself._

"Well," Nasuada said after a long while. "You may prove your worth yet. Welcome to the Varden. What is your name, woman, so I may call on you if I am in need of more information on the Empire."

"I prefer not to reveal my name, and it is only with great unease that I revealed myself and this information," Said the woman.

"Then you are not staying in with us?" Nasuada's face was distressed. Eragon knew that they greatly needed more information on the Empire, as their spies were quite often not returning unharmed, or sane of mind, and sometimes not at all.

"We shall stay if we are to be of service. If you must have a name, I shall be referred to as the Scholar."

"And what of your niece?"

The woman pursed he lips. "I would her to not have exposure."

Annalisa looked outraged, and Eragon wondered if that was even her real name.

"If that is what you wish. You are dismissed." Annalisa lingered for a few seconds, her eyes trailing over Eragon, Arya, and Nasuada, looking as if she wanted to say something. She then left with her aunt.

"Now Arya," Nasuada said, turning to face the elf, "what of your troubles?"

"Arya was about to reply when the door burst open, a stream of Varden filling the down stairs of the house. Eragon even recognized a few of the people from Carvahall.

"Lady, we want a dance," One woman requested.

"We want a party!"

"Quiet!" Nasuada bellowed, and the Night Hawks forced their way through the crowd.

"Our apologies," said a dwarf, "We attempted to stop them, but to no avail."

"It is quite alright," Nasuada said kindly, and then raised her voice to address the throng of people in her house.

"As I have already explained to Arya, we haven't the time for events devoted fully to the purpose of socialization!"

The people responded to this with a spew of colorful language in a number of languages.

"Quiet, please!" Eragon requested, and the room fell silent instantly. "Nasuada thinks only of the Varden and their needs. Night and day, she puts them before herself. If we should take the time to organize something of the size that most of you wish, it would delay us taking the next city in the Empire for days, or even weeks! You must be sympathetic if you want to defeat the Empire. Then will be the time for celebration. We are getting closer every day, and we must not delay!" The crowd roared in approval. "Now prepare to leave Feinster, for we must keep moving on our mission to thwart the Empire!"

The crowd began to pour from the room, people chattering excitedly. Most everyone had forgotten why they had been to visit Nasuada.

"Thank you, Eragon," Nasuada said, straightening her dress. "It never ceases to amaze me how you can turn a whole crowd on its ear and make them eager to leave Feinster, when just moments they were demanding to stay."

"Nothing gives me more pleasure," said Eragon earnestly.

"That reminds me. I have a war meeting in a few minutes. I need to assign new missions, and I would like to have your assistance. I would like your help as well, Arya, if you wish to drabble in such disorder and complaint."

Arya laughed softly, a clear bell-like sound that always made Eragon's heart do a flip and land in his stomach. Only, it did not this time. True, he could listen to an elf laugh for infinity and still desire more, but it did not have the same effect.

"As much as I would like to," she said, more serious than before, "I must contact my mother with this new information, though I may join you later." She smiled at Eragon and Nasuada and exited the house, like a flower flowing down a river, graceful and swift.

The war meeting went slowly, and Eragon was beginning to tire, wishing he hadn't agreed to help Nasuada and gone to the cook tents and gotten lunch instead.

It was only after Eragon had assigned what seemed like thousands of men into different regiments did Nasuada offer him a bite to eat.

"Take a break, Eragon," Nasuada said. "I shall finish this myself."

Eragon was about to protest when his stomach growled, and he took leave gratefully

_I'm glad I'm not leader of the Varden,_ Eragon said to Saphira on their way to find a cook tent.

_So am I, Little One,_ replied Saphira.

_Why is that? _Eragon asked. _You wouldn't be in command of every person if the Empire willing to fight Galbatorix!_

_And I wouldn't be hungry either._

**Please, Please review! Thanks!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys,  
I know no one has really been looking at this story, but I write it whenever I happen to be really bored (Which happens to ne most of the time). So if you actually have been reading it, or even just looked at it and didn't like it, I'd appriciate it if you would let me know if you read it or what you think.**

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Annalisa curtsied in front of Eragon. "Shadeslayer."

"Annalisa," replied Eragon, his heart thumping mercilessly.

"I was wondering, if you were accompanying the Varden to Belatona, if I and my aunt could travel with you." She was a bit hesitant.

Eragon grinned widely. "Of course!" He exclaimed. "I would love nothing more than for you to travel with us. That is, if you don't mind riding in the front line, and my liege lord approves."

"Of course I do not mind," she said, sounding proud, and even a bit indignant. Eragon could not help admiring that. Eragon, he warned himself, a warm feeling creeping into his stomach. He couldn't possibly like the girl. Did she like him, too? Why else would she ask to join him?

The girl mumbled something about her aunt.

"What?" Eragon laughed.

Annalisa turned bright red. "I hadn't yet broached the subject to my aunt. But I'm sure she'd agree to ride with us. To give you more information on the Empire." She added hurriedly.

For information on the Empire. _Restrain yourself, Young One._ Saphira's bellowing thoughts entered his mind.

_Restrain myself?_ Eragon demanded.

_I can tell by the way your heart beats, _Saphira said knowingly.

Eragon's heart was still pumping a mile a minute.

_That means nothing!_ He muttered.

_Of course not,_ Saphira yawned.

"Thank you, Sha- Eragon!" Annalisa curtsied again and ran into the twilight, dress flapping behind her.

Eragon was traipsing to Nasuada's house to review the plans if the Varden, which was moving to Belatona the next morning.

When someone touched him on the shoulder, and Eragon whirled around, ready for a quick attack if need be.

"Arya!"

"Hello, Eragon. Why the boisterous stride?"

Eragon narrowed his eyes. Arya seemed much too interested and much less serious than usual. "No reason," he said so icily that Arya recoiled her hand.

"Only wondering. I for one am glad to be leaving Feinster. It means we are closer to defeating the Empire, and I am closer to returning home to Ellesmera."

"And I can be home to how knows what," Eragon muttered. Arya laughed lightly, soft and tinkling. _Much _less serious.

They entered Nasuada's house making polite small talk. Eragon couldn't think of much to talk about, save the weather and Annalisa, and he thought it best not to mention the latter until later.

"Eragon, Arya," Nasuada said brusquely, motioning for them to sit in front of her in two dingy chairs, placed at slightly charred table.

Saphira stuck her head in through a window that had been gutted and enlarged.

"Nasuada," Eragon and Arya said simultaneously, sinking into the chairs.

"Now," said Nasuada, business like, a way that Eragon rarely saw her, "Night is falling and I still have much to do. Arya, you will be in the very front of our procession. Eragon, I need you and Saphira to keep villagers in line."

Keep villagers in line? Saphira protested. Do you not have something more worthy for a Dragon and Rider?"

"Neither you two or Arya were present last time I moved the Varden, correct?"

"Correct," Arya confirmed before Eragon could protest.

"Then you are not aware what a worthy job this is."

"Yes, My Lady," said Eragon. He hesitated a moment, wondering if it would be a good time to ask a favor. "May I ask something of you, Nasuada?"

Nasuada's eyes softened. "Any reasonable favor, Rider."

"I wish to add two to my party."

"Whom may these two be?"

"The young lady and her aunt who you met a recently. From the Empire."

"Add whomever you see fit, Eragon," Nasuada said kindly. "Now, out! Both of you!" She batted her hands at them good naturedly.

_Eragon,_ chided Saphira as he climbed her leg to mount her, _will it really be best if Annalisa rode with us? _

_All we'll be doing is restraining villager_ Eragon pointed out. _Besides, her aunt will be with us, so we can get more information on the Empire. _

_You can't hide things from me, Little One,_ said Saphira.

_Quiet, you._

Saphira rolled her massive sapphire blue eyes and swooped down and landed next to Eragon's tent.

Faint with fatigue from the numerous patrols Nasauda had him and Saphira on a day, he tumbled into bed, sinking almost immediately into his waking dreams.

Eragon slashed and parried, but it was know use. Annalisa lay limp on the ground next to him, looking like sue had put up a good fight before she had finally gone down. He could hear Saphira roaring in the background.

"Saphira!" He cried. He could not see his opponent's face, for he was garbed in robes of obsidian with a hood over his head. He was obviously a seasoned swordsman. Murtagh? Before he could ponder this question, as Eragon was swinging his sword; his cloaked adversary sliced a layer of skin from his forearm, exposing muscle and poring blood. Eragon howled. He was about to sink to the ground when he remembered his sword's secret ability.

"Brisingr!" He shouted.

A massive roar wracked the silent morning, waking Eragon, sweating and shaking from his dream.

"Good morning, Saphira," Eragon spoke the words.

Good Morning, said Saphira gruffly.

"We'll need to see Nasuada soon!" Eragon had to yell so Saphira could hear him, but he didn't mind.

_Eragon, _she complained, _If you keep shouting at me, I shall roar at you, and see if you can decipher that. _

_Sorry,_ thought Eragon with his mind, not wishing to either make Saphira angry, or listen to her roaring at such an early hour, for dawn was just breaking.

After washing and shaving with magic, Eragon donned one of his more worn tunics and headed out to take command from Nasuada, Saphira in tow, swinging her tail over the heads of the already agitated people of the Varden.

_Saphira,_ scolded Eragon.

_What? I am a mighty Dragon, and I will do what i wish._

_But all the same, we can't have you decapitating citizens!_

Saphira snorted, a plume of smoke escaping her maw, causing on lookers to scatter like leaves in a storm.

Annalisa was waiting alone outside of Nasuada's.

"Where is your aunt?" He asked, ignoring the hammering in his chest.

"She thought it best to share her information in private, so she would not accompany me." She said. The strain and frustration in her eyes was apparent.

"You will still be riding with us?"

"If you see fit, yes. Unlike my aunt, I see know reason for me to keep you from the knowledge that I possess."

"Wait here," said Eragon.

He entered Nasuada's house, while Saphira went around back to the window. Arya slipped in behind him. King Orrin and Nasuada were arguing heatedly but quietly in the center of the large room.

_Whatever could they be arguing about this time?_ Saphira asked.

Arya shook her head. "Nasuada has much upon her shoulders. It is amazing that she has shown level headedness through your service, Eragon."

Eragon nodded absently, thinking of all the times Nasuada had lost her temper at him.

The two had not even noticed the arrival of Eragon and Arya until Saphira growled, making Orrin jump.

"King Orrin."

"Ah, Eragon, Arya," Nasuada said, brushing the nonexistent dust off her dress. "You're here. Good."

"Nasuada, I hate to interrupt, but this is an urgent situation!"

"What is the matter, King Orrin?" asked Eragon. The king had never been a particularly reasonable or calm monarch, but he seemed especially distressed.

The king sighed. "Some of my people-"

"And the people of the Varden," Nasuada interjected, earning a cold glare from Orrin.

"-And the people of the Varden," he continued, "meaning two hundred or more, have seen fit to try to stay and try to rebuild Feinster. I have tried to rally them, but they insist. We cannot afford the loss of so many."

Eragon nodded. "I can help you, you majesty. Give me a day or two-"

"That's the problem!" Nasuada snapped. "We do not have a day or two! We must depart within the day! People are already gathering, waiting for us to take leave."

"Nasuada," said Eragon, "I know we're pressed for time, but would one day really make a difference, especially if it meant more greatly needed troops?" He had already made up his mind that he was going to stay, no matter how long it took.

"Eragon is right," admitted Arya. "The one day is surely worth the troops."

Nasuada took a deep breath. "Yes, I suppose you are right. But we leave no later than tomorrow at noon, with or without them. Please make haste, Eragon," She added. "With any luck we'll be able to head out this afternoon or early tomorrow morning."

Nasuada whirled around and ascended the stair case, leaving King Orrin, Arya, and Eragon standing alone in the center of the main room.

"I should have my own Dragon Rider," the king murmured. Eragon smiled.

"Good day, King Orrin," said he said, and exited the house.

Annalisa greeted him. The sun was nearly all the way above the

horizon and the air was moist. The sky was clear, save for only a few fluffy clouds.

"We're going soon?" Annalisa asked, squeezing his wrist. The place were she had touched him burned, like the time he had dripped candle

wax on his arm while feeding the donkeys during the evening back in Carvahall.

"Actually," Eragon said, rubbing his wrist, "we need to rally more

troops. Can you help us?"

Annalisa nodded. "Yes." She said simply.

Eragon frowned, thinking deeply about how they should go about doing this delicate work. Finally he decided.

"We shall go to the center of the Feinster," he explained, "and-"

_Give a speech to all we need help from_, Saphira finished.

Eragon did not relish speaking in front of large groups of people, but it was necessary.

Annalisa obviously had noticed this, for she said, "I came with you to help, did I not?" She smiled, directing Eragon and Saphira in stacking crates. Saphira shattered a one with her massive jaws, the splinters falling on Eragon and Annalisa. Saphira yowled in pain.

_I'll help you get them out later,_ Eragon promised.

When they had a sufficient stack, Eragon grabbed Annalist by the waist and hoisted her up on top. She was surprisingly light.

"Thank you, Shadeslayer," she murmured.

_You had better not do anything that bold again, Eragon, _said Saphira.

_I was helping her,_ Eragon muttered. _The stack was nearly too high for her._

"People of the Varden and Feinster!" Annalisa's voice rang out clearly among the din of the town. All around, people stopped what they were doing. Some even ran into houses and aroused the sleeping. Children in night gowns clung to their mothers' legs, standing in the doorways of such dwellings.

"We need your help," She continued. "To defeat the Empire. You must serve. Every person makes a difference. The Varden cannot afford for you to stay here, for we need troops desperately. People for Feinster, please, join us in our fight for the Empire! We shall rebuild you city when possible." The people cheered.

_Poorly worded,_ commented Saphira.

It obviously had a positive effect, insisted Eragon.

"We leave for Belatona on this very afternoon. Gather your things and prepare to defeat the Empire!" The crowd cheered so deafeningly that Eragon had to press his hands over his ears.

"I suppose we're leaving for Belatona today"

"Explain to me again," insisted Nasuada incredulously.

_Annalisa rallied the entire city of Feinster, to put it simply_, said Saphira.

"Alright, then," Nasuada said, sounding genuinely pleased. "We may find use for you yet, Annalisa."

"Actually," Annalisa said slowly, "I have something to confess."

"Go on," said Eragon, a bit too enthusiastically.

"Well-"

_We don't have all day,_ Saphira snapped.

"I think I can do.. Magic."

"You just have more and more surprises, don't you?" Nasuada shook her head incredulously. "Eragon, please take Annalisa to see Trianna and the rest of Du Vrangr Gata."

"I can teach her."

"I'm sure you can, Eragon, but-"

"You think my skills are comparable to Trianna's?"

"I have other things for you to deal with," Nasuada assured him. "Important things."

"I-" Eragon stopped himself when he realized that Annalisa had cocked an eyebrow, a slight smile on her face. "I would rather it be me. Beginner spells are my specialty. Believe me."

Annalisa giggled. Eragon's heart jumped. hSe had actually laughed at him.

"I suppose, when you have free time that is, teach Annalisa."

Eragon had to refrain from jumping up and down. Instead, he touched Annalisa on the shoulder.

"Come along," he said, hooking his arm. She graciously slid hers through it. "Let's find Trianna."

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**If you read, I would really appriciate if you reviewed! Have a great day! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Another new chapter today! Took me hours to edit. Take a look!**

**And I've been forgetting to put in these stupid disclaimers.  
Disclaimer: I don't own the Inheritance cycle.**

**And forgive my horrible Ancient Language, please! I have no idea how to spell, but it's decipherable :/**

* * *

Eragon was rather quiet on their search for Trianna, afraid that, if he were to say something, it would betray his feelings for Annalisa.

_I will just tell her myself soon enough, _Saphira grumbled.

_I just might skin you if you do,_ Eragon warned.

_I'd like to see you try._

In the absence of speech that she could hear, Annalisa, with only a bit of prodding from Eragon, launched into an unbelievable tale.

"My grandfather, he is Galbatorix," she said.

Eragon gaped, while Saphira snorted.

_She can't be serious._

"How can this be so?" Eragon demanded.

"My mother was his daughter," she said darkly. "People know little to none of this, but he took many wives before he withdrew to solitary confinement after the last if his beloved Foresworn was killed. My mother was amount the last. He had three children with her: My uncle, who disappeared; my aunt, whom I am with now; and my mother, whom had no desire to take care of me, and simply abandoned me to my aunt and disappeared as their brother did. My mother was the youngest. Aunt Lyra always described her to me as beautiful, chestnut colored hair, and ocean blue eyes. It brings me great sorrow to think that she could have abandoned me as she did. I suppose she wasn't ready."

All of this proved to be difficult for Eragon to absorb. "This is all true?"

"I do not tell tales," Annalisa said seriously. "Especially not to someone of your status, Shade Slayer." And Eragon believed her.

"And you met... Him before?"

"It's alright," she said. "I suppose I've met him a vast number of times, but all before my memory serves. But the few times I can remember him, he wasn't bad at all."

Annalisa sighed. "One hears stories of him, but to be sooth saying, I had deemed him fair and kind by age of three. Though, he had a malicious glint in his I every time he looked away from his family. He really did love us all, at least I believe, and it's probably driving him mad not having someone round. Or rather, more mad."

Eragon couldn't help smiling at this. "On the subject of magic," he said, "what have you actually done?"

"I healed my aunt," she said softly. "She has mortally injured and desperately trying to heal herself. I put my hand are her heart where she had been stabbed and repeated the words she had been saying. And I healed her, I suppose."

"And you were tired afterwards?"

"I nearly passed out."

"When was this?"

"Nearly a year ago now."

"Amazing," he murmured. "Could the rest of your family do magic?"

"Either they couldn't or aunt Lyra's never told me. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they could. I've lived with her my whole life and I'm quite sure there are things that I will never know. Now stop asking question, as I am sure I will have to recount this all to this Trianna woman."

Eragon fell silent, letting his eyes lids drop a bit. He took a deep breath of sweet wind, and opened his mind to the world, careful to not more than brush Annalisa's thoughts.

"What was that?" she asked suddenly, after Eragon had carelessly crashed into her mind. "I felt something in my.. in my head."

Eragon blushed slightly. "Sorry," he said. "I was making an effort not to invade your privacy."

"You were in my mind?"

"Only for a second," he said hastily. "I didn't hear anything."

Annalisa cocked an eyebrow. "Can I try?"

Eragon was surprised. "It may take some practice," he said, lowering

his mental barriers. "And I mustn't be off guard for long or else I could be-" Eragon felt a presence other than Saphira's creep into his mind. He hastily covered up what he did not want to disclose.

_Or else you could be attacked by enemies,_, finished the new presence.

Annalisa started sifting through his mind. She grabbed a memory of

Roran that Eragon especially treasured; Eragon snatched it up, filing it away and out of sight.

_Perhaps the most important rule of magic is to not invade other's privacy, _he snapped. _Unless they are your enemy, that is._

_Why?_ Annalisa wondered.

_It's just not done. _Eragon insisted.

_So you could battle an enemy with your mind?_

_Yes._

_How?_

Eragon jabbed at Annalisa's consciousness with his own.

_Fascinating, _she mused.

He put up his mental barriers once more. "It's just not done," he repeated.

"That was amazing," said Annalisa. "How many people actually have been in your mind?"

Eragon frowned. "Very few. Mainly enemies and Saphira."

_You are not missing much, _Saphira said smugly.

Annalisa laughed softly. "I think it was impossibly complex. Much to

think about, Eragon?"

_You don't know the half of it,_, he thought, but just smiled.

At last, Eragon located a member of Du Vrangr Gata.

"Vitica," he called. "Do you know where Trianna is?"

"She is..." Vitica paused, locating Trianna with her mind. "With King

Orrin. There was a problem with horse theft."

"Thank you."

"Couldn't you have done this yourself?" Annalisa inquired. Eragon didn't answer, as if he did, he would have to admit that he had just wanted to speak with her.

The day was growing older quickly, and it was nearly time to be on their way to Belatona.

Eragon motioned to Trianna to come over to him and his companion.

"I haven't much time, Shadeslayer," she snapped. "So what is it you need?"

Annalisa had slid her arm out from Eragon's and wrapped her hands around his arm, her slim face slightly hidden behind his shoulder.

"This is Annalisa, daughter of..?"

"Teradyne."

"Teradyne. We suspect that she can use magic-"

"Suspect that she can use magic?"

"Yes, she has only use it once-"

"I don't have time for it now," Trianna said brusquely.

"We were sent by Nasuada," said Eragon, tried of being interrupted.

"And might I remind you, Lady Trianna, you are under my command until further notice. You are to train her and teach her basic spells. She is already quite competent at penetrating into others' minds, so I advise you to take heed."

"Very well," Trianna grumbled, "Come, Daughter of Teradyne."

"And by the way," said Eragon, a bit smug. "You will be bringing up

the rear as we journey to Belatona."

The sorceress practically stomped toward king Orrin."

_That was not necessary, _said Saphira.

_I was to tell her of her position._

_That you did._

There were already scores of people lining up their possessions, children, and a few animals. It dawned upon Eragon how soon they must leave.

"Eragon," said a bell-like voice from behind him.

Eragon jumped. "You must stop doing that, Arya."

"And you must work on your sensory skills."

"You'll never have thought it," he said, ignoring the jibe, for he had senses nearly as good if not better than Arya's, "but little Annalisa has magic in her blood."

"I had guessed as much," Arya said dismissively.

Eragon narrowed his eyes and continued. "And she is the granddaughter

of the Galbatorix."

"How did you recover this information?"

Eragon was miffed that she did not seem impressed or even the slightest bit surprised at this. "Annalisa herself.

Arya nodded. "She is an unusual young lady," admitted the elf princess. "I came to you regarding my mother," she added. "She wishes you to scry with her as soon as possible."

"We march for Belatona is less that a few hours."

"Then I suggest," Arya said, "that you make haste." She turned on her heel and loped off.

Members of the Varden scurried around him, making final preparations for the journey. _I must speak to Roran before we depart,_ Eragon thought.

_We haven't the time, Little One, _said Saphira. _There will be ample opportunity after we settle for the night._

_I suppose you're right, _Eragon admitted.

After a great deal of searching, Eragon found a suitable basin of water for scrying outside a cook tent. After notifying the cooks, he sat down at the basin and said, "Draumor Coupa." The water rippled, and an Elvin servant appeared. Saphira landed and backed in next to him, jabbing her spikes into his side.

"Oww!" Cried Eragon, rubbing his ribs.

"Shadeslayer," said the elf once Eragon had settled himself in front of Saphira's massive eye. "The Queen Izlanzadí awaits you."

The queen appeared, looking deshelved as the last time Eragon had spoken to her.

Eragon touched his lips and murmured the elf greeting first, as was custom when speaking to someone of higher statue than yourself.

"And may the stars watch over, Shade Slayer," said the queen. "We

Mustn't tarry, for we are still in the height of battle. I need you to tell me..." She asked for every detail of every moment since the last time they had spoken, and Eragon told her everything, save his feelings for Annalisa. Saphira nearly added this unnecessary detail, but Eragon poked her in the eye.

"Why couldn't Arya have told you this?" Eragon wondered aloud to Islanzadí.

"My daughter does not wish to humor nor distract with the details of her life," she replied brusquely, and Eragon could tell that he had touched upon a delicate subject.

"Eragon!" Annalisa's voice cut through the noisy afternoon. "Saphira!"

"Please excuse me, Islanzadí Droughtning, the Varden is departing for Belatona."

"Good day, Eragon Finearaèl."

"Good day, Queen Islanzadí."

Eragon had not even noticed that the cook tent had been completely packed and was out of sight.

"The Varden is very much ready to depart," panted Annalisa.

About a thousand yards away, across the field that had been the

Varden's camp, Eragon could see his tent standing alone.

"Could I really have forgotten to pack my things?" Eragon pondered.

"Come, I will help you, but we must hurry!" Urged Annalisa.

Eragon tore across the field at an inhumanly speed, Annalisa quickly falling behind. Saphira's wings rippled above him.

Luckily, Eragon had very few possessions. Annalisa packed the few items in Saphira's saddle bags while Eragon tool the cot and tent. Every time he looked up, with his enhanced vision could see Nasuada sitting atop her steed, Battlestorm, tapping her fingers impatiently on the saddle.

Eragon gathered up the cot and tent that the Varden had lent him and, much to her surprise, picked up Annalisa and put her behind him in the saddle.

As soon as they were within her sight, Nasuada gave the order to depart.

"You missed and invigorating speak, Eragon," Nasuada teased. "Hello,

Annalisa. Now please, Eragon, report to your post."

With an unhappy start, Eragon remembered that his post was with the Varden commoners.

The first day's journey was hot and tedious, made even more so for

Eragon and Saphira, Eragon having Annalisa leaning against him did make him considerably hotter and Saphira have to carry her extra weight. But Eragon was glad to have her company, regardless.

The people of the Varden where restless and harried, having had to up and leave on such short notice. Eragon had had to break up several fights between citizens within the first few hours. Or rather, Saphira had growled at them and they had stopped dead.

Annalisa and Eragon exchanged stories of their childhoods. When dusk began to fall, Annalisa put her head on Eragon's shoulder. He listened to her breathing slow as she fell asleep.

Eragon didn't even notice his eyes drooping or his own head falling gently on Annalisa's.

_Eragon! _Saphira bellowed.

Eragon snapped his head. Annalisa's eyes fluttered open.

"Sorry," Eragon murmured, "I didn't mean to wake you. Go back to sleep."

She stretched. "No," she yawned, "We'll be finding a place to settle for the night soon. I might as well stay away."

Eragon loved the way the moon reflected in her eyes when she looked up at the sky.

_Nasuada has dictated a resting place for the night,_ said Trianna in Eragon's mind. _You must shield yourself better, Shadeslayer,_ she added. I HAD not to try to breach your barriers. She said nothing more, and Eragon took care to shield his mind much more carefully. It was a wonder he wasn't dead by now. Since when had he become so scatter brained? EVER since I met Annalisa, he thought. Perhaps it wouldn't be such a good idea to let her come along him just for company. It was a fluke, he decided. She just happened to be with me.

He would give it another try before he made a decision.

_It was not a fluke, Eragon._ It was Saphira. He was surely becoming scatter brained if he had forgotten Saphira. BUT I will not dictate your choice. Do what you think is best.

Eragon frowned. What decision was there to make? They were friends, and that was all, and besides Eragon was too young and preoccupied for a relationship, if that were even thinkable.

He felt Annalisa's head rest on his shoulder again, he knew she was asleep. She had been using magic today; she deserved rest.

After Saphira had landed, as Eragon was about to pick Annalisa up, he had a thought. If he was seen carrying her, rumors would surely begin to swirl. But he would have to wake her so she could walk herself.

_What a dilemma. She can hardly keep her eyes open, _she reasoned._ Just carry her._

Eragon was torn. He felt stupid for fretting so much over such a simple problem.

Finally, against his better judgment, or maybe with his better judgment- he couldn't tell-he scooped up Annalisa and carefully climbed down Saphira's leg. This proved to be rather difficult, since he was used to doing this with two hands, as opposed to none.

As he had expected, he was bombarded with questions the second his feet touched the ground.

"Who is that, Shadeslayer?" or "Is she alright?" and especially teases. "Found some love, Rider?" was his peeve of the night. It was amazing how many daft men could come up with the same insult.

Annalisa's aunt hurried over as soon as she saw them.

"What's happened!" she demanded. "I should have guesses something would happen-!"

"It's alright," Eragon soothed. "She simply fell asleep and I didn't wish to wake her."

"Oh."

"I'm Eragon, by the way," he added.

"I know who you are, boy," Annalisa's aunt snapped.

"Pardon," Eragon said. "I should have just asked your name."

"Names have power. But if you must know me by something, call me Lyra," she muttered. "Now I don't want that broadcasted all over either, so keep your mouth shut, Honorable Dragon Rider."

"Where is your camp?" Eragon asked quietly.

"I'll take it from here, if you don't mind."

"Really. I can't expect you to make it to your camp carrying her," he indicated Annalisa. Lrya looked genuinely offended. "No offence."

She narrowed her eyes. "Very well. Follow me, Rider."

_Come on, Saphira,_, said Eragon.

They wove through the night crowd, which was speaking in hushed tones.

All of the voices combined generated a soft hum in their wake. Saphira trailed behind Eragon, ensuring that no one followed too closely.

"Set her down in the tent," said Lyra stiffly. Eragon was a bit surprised by her behavior toward him. She had seemed much even tempered when he had met her a few days ago. Probably just being over protective, he reasoned.

"Thank you," she said grudgingly.

"It was my pleasure. Have a good night."

She did not reply.

_Humans,_ Saphira snorted, swing her tail, just barely missing several tents.

_Be careful_, scolded Eragon.

"Eragon," Nasuada greeted him few minutes later. "I hope you won't mind sleeping in the open. I give a limited number of tents, so we won't spend all day taking them down tomorrow."

"Of course not," Eragon murmured, though he had been looking forward to a bit of privacy. _I'll have to get there more quickly tomorrow night, he thought. Maybe you could influence them, Saphira?_

_Gladly._

Eragon lay down and settled in to his waking dreams, still thoroughly aware of wailing children and young couples slipping off into the night, and the moon shining brightly over head.

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**Remember to review! And tell your friends maybe? But if you guys don't review, I'll think I'm doing this for nothing and stop publishing! And if you did review, I appreciate it :)**


	5. Chapter 5

** Hey, ya'll. Sorry it took so long with this chapter, it's been ready for like three days but there was that log in problem and then after that my computer refused to connect to the internet.**

**Here it goes...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Inheritance Cycle, that belongs to Christopher P. **

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Magic for the Amateur

A man was leaning over a young woman, pressing a cloth to her hip. He was sobbing. The young woman's face was pale, but beautiful, her eyes soft and relaxed. She was either dead or very nearly dead. The sky was blood red and the evening air was dry and cloudless. There was a keening wail, like that of a dragon or another creature in great grief or sorrow.

The man murmured something softly in a thick, pained voice. They were by a river, but the stream was a gruesome and full of gore and blood instead of clear. Around the two, a battle was raging, men slashing at each other with swords, horse braying.

The man pressed something else to the young woman's hip, and her eyes fluttered open.

"Eragon," Nasuada was shaking his shoulder gingerly. Annalisa nudged his foot with her own. "We haven't the time to over sleep. Every minute wasted-"

"Could mean the difference in defeating the Empire," Eragon finished.

Nasuada seemed overly obsessed with defeating the Empire. It's right within our grasp, she had remarked so repeatedly that Eragon frequently quoted it.

"And I don't intend on being a few minutes late defeating our adversaries because my Rider wanted to nap," Nasuada said seriously.

And don't we know it, Saphira groaned.

"It's not like it's going to make a difference anyway," Eragon snapped, snatching up his blanket and folding it hastily. "We'll make it somewhere along the line."

Nasuada looked exasperated, but said nothing. Eragon wished he hadn't said anything, but didn't dare say anything for fear that be would anger he more.

"Come, Annalisa," said Eragon, digging into one of the saddle bags for a tunic. He pulled it on over his head. "What are you waiting for?" he laughed. She was starring up at Saphira who had gotten significantly larger than even when they had fought Durza with Arya.

Annalisa cleared her throat. "I'm not sure I could get up there without your help. It's a bit of a reach."

Eragon smiled and shook rolled his eyes playfully. "Try it," he urged.

Annalisa tried to swing her leg up onto Saphira's back, but succeeded only in falling in the dewy grass.

Nasuada tapped on Battlestorm's saddle, as she customarily did when impatient. "As amusing as this may be to you, Eragon, the rest of the

Varden grows restless."

Eragon offered Annalisa a hand and climbed up Saphira's leg. "Yes,

Lady Nasuada."

They flew in for nearly an hour before Eragon finally broke the silence.

"You know I didn't really think it was funny when you fell," he said.

Annalisa nodded. "I know. When you were sleeping, you wouldn't wake up, not even when Nasuada kicked you."

"She kicked me?" Eragon laughed.

"In the face."

That was amusing, chuckled Saphira.

"She must have been aggravated. I was having the strangest dream." He launched into the details of the dream of the battle and the river and the young man and woman.

"Are your dreams usually premonitions?"

"Well, some of them," Eragon said slowly, not wanting to tell her about his dream including her on the ground.

She nodded absently.

They flew for a good many miles before Eragon realized that they were no longer within sight of Nasuada and the rest of the Varden.

_Wait on the ground, Saphira, _he instructed.

The field in which they landed was lush and green, probably abandoned by a farmer, like so many fields in Carvahall.

Annalisa fell to the ground with a soft thump and dug her hands into the grass. Eragon breathed in the rich scent of the earth. The midday sun beat down on them.

_I'm thirsty,_complained Saphira.

_Go find a stream then,_ said Eragon, leisurely taking a long draft from his wine skin.

_And leave you alone with Annalisa?_

Eragon rolled his eyes in annoyance. _We won't do anything funny, I promise. Just try to be back before Nasuada and the rest catch up. I can hear them already._

_Yes, Eragon, _Saphira said mockingly.

Annalisa looked up at Saphira, and then down longingly at the skin.

Eragon tossed it to her. "It's wine."

"Where I used to live," Annalisa said, gulping the wine down, "even the women and children drank wine." She dropped the empty skin into Eragon's lap.

"And where might've that been?" He asked.

"Far, far away, in an unknown land," she replied mysteriously.

"You could've just said that you weren't going to tell me."

She laughed. "Perhaps another day," she said weave together strands of grass. "My aunt wants me to ride with her tomorrow," she said, abruptly changing the subject as usual.

"Oh gods, no," Eragon joked, "then I'll only have Saphira for company."

_I heard that,_ Saphira grumbled.

"Oh, I think she'll forgive me if I don't."

Eragon looked her straight in the eyes. They were hazel with flecks of orange. Eyes that made it clear that the secrets that they held captive were not going to be given up easily. "Ride with your aunt," he told her with such authority that even Saphira would have listened. But not Annalisa. She was different.

"She really won't mind," she insisted, pulling her head back.

_I can see Nasuada from here, _interrupted Saphira. _She has apparently decided to take another path._ She landed next to Eragon.

He offered his arm to Annalisa, who ignored it and sprang up with ease.

"We'll talk about this later."

It was cold at such a high altitude, and it wasn't until Eragon looked back that he remembered Annalisa was riding behind him. She was shivering cold. Eragon was about to wrap a blanket from the saddle bag around her shoulders when he saw it. He dropped the blanket and the cold was soon forgotten.

_Trianna! _He shouted with his mind, sensing her at the end of the procession. He battered at her mental shields. _There is a legion of soldiers about twenty-five miles away, marching in the opposite direction of the Varden! _

Saphira leaded into a steep dive.

"W-what's g-going on?" Annalisa shivered over the wind.

Eragon didn't reply. He was scanning the legion for magicians. He located a few. Perhaps they would be lucky and these soldiers were not men who feel no pain.

_Nasuada wishes to see you, _said Trianna.

The Varden had managed to veer sharply to the right, but there was no way they would go unnoticed by the soldiers.

There was no time to talk to Nasuada. He looked back. Annalisa's face was white as a sheet. "This is disastrous!" She murmured, just loud enough for Eragon to hear.

Once they landed, Eragon raced to Nasuada's side. The Varden had stopped to receive direction.

"Take all the women and children!" Nasuada was yelling. "All able bodied men, stand your ground with weapons prepared!"

The sounds of screaming children and whispered goodbyes floated across the air.

Annalisa was panting, sweat soaked, and running to stand by the two.

"Go with the women and children!" Eragon commanded.

"I can stay and fight!" Annalisa would not take no for an answer. "The women would always stay and fight where-!"

"That's not an option!" Eragon broke her off, and then said in a quieter voice, "we can't risk you being killed. You have important information about the Empire."

"Well, if that's all I'm good for!" She shouted, tears in her eyes. Eragon was about to reach for her arm, but Nasuada restrained him.

"Best to leave her be," she told him.

"But what if she is killed?" Eragon demanded.

"Do you really have so little faith in her?" Nasuada shook her head. "I am not worried, though. You and Arya could take on this entire host yourselves, if I recall correctly."

"That we could," muttered Eragon. "But it would not be pleasant for us, or the soldiers."

"Nasuada," Arya said calmly, seemingly dissolving out of thin air. Eragon had been seeing less and less of her ever since Annalisa had come around; perhaps it was for the best.

"Arya," Nasuada said warmly.

"I estimate there are about 250 soldiers."

"There must be more than that," Eragon interjected, remembering his overhead view.

"You have an actual number, then?" Nasuada asked. "Blast, where _is _King Orrin? I swear that man will drive me mad one of these dreaded days!"

Eragon couldn't help smiling. He also couldn't help but notice that the soldiers were getting closer, and getting closer fast. This was unnatural.

"Nasuada," Arya interrupted, "The soldiers are coming nearer a far more rapid pace then average."

"Another mass trick of Galbatorix?" she sighed, seemingly not worried, but both Eragon and Arya could tell by the slight crease in her brow that she was growing more fearful.

"At any rate, we must warn the rest of the Varden," said Eragon, side stepping King Orrin and darting through the crowd. "Run!" he shouted to the lagging women and children, then turned to the soldiers. "Hold your positions, stand your ground. These soldiers are victims of a mass spell."

Immediately panic broke out among the soldiers.

Arya caught Eragon's shoulder. He tried to throw off the arm. He needed to warn more of their troops! It stayed firm.

"Nasuada wished me to tell you to leave the commanding to her," Arya said gently. "We know you are trying to help, it is your compulsion that we must beware of."

But Eragon was no longer paying attention to her. He was staring at the leader of the adversary group. A man cloaked in black whose face could not be seen.

"Arya!" Eragon shouted. "I've seen him; I've seen the man in the cloak!"

"It's a wonder you can recognize him then," said Arya, almost sarcastically, "with that cloak pulled all the way over his facial features."

Eragon would have rolled his eyes, but he was too excited. "No, I've seen him with-"

"Charge!" someone shouted, and with an unruly din, the entire body took a few steps forward. It was all they needed before the rest opposing side closed the distance, moving like a scarf in the air, rippling in perfect unison. Annalisa boldly stepped up to their apparent leader.

Eragon let out a cry that was lost in the air. The battle raged. He picked his way through the crowd, attempting to reach Annalisa in time.

_She truly is amazing with a sword, _he marveled. His praise seemed as if it was her undoing. At that same moment, Annalisa lost her footing and spun around, swinging her sword aimlessly, the cloaked man slashed her leg, and she fell to the ground, limp, like in her dream.

_Eragon! _Saphira howled.

_I know! _He replied frantically, _I'll be with you as soon as I take care of this fiend!_

In a rage, Eragon nearly slipped over a bloodied soldier of the Empire. These men were no match for the Varden's mismatched group, even with their supernatural speed.

He reached the man and drew his sword with the speed of the elf. The obsidian cloaked figure turned his head and slashed a Varden soldier in the ribs. The man staggered off and collapsed.

This did not discourage Eragon. He parried a blow to this neck almost immediately.

_This man is aiming to kill, _he thought,_ and kill brutally. He's probably so crazed this won't last long. _This, however, proved to be incorrect. The longer they fought, the farther the match swayed to the cloaked enemies favor. The man was obviously a seasoned swords man. Saphira roared in the distance.

"Saphira!" Eragon cried. He quickly blocked Saphira off from his mind before her could influence him. His opponent took this moment of distraction to make his move. He sliced a thick layer of skin from his arm, exposing muscle. Eragon nearly vomited at the sight of himself. He slashed and parried, but it was no use. His arm burned like the deepest pit of hell, and would soon go limp.

Just when he thought all hope was lost, he remembered his sword's special ability. "Brisingr!" The sword burst into flame, and the man reared backwards, clearly fearing the fire.

Eragon murmured a healing spell, but stopped the flow of magic when the burning had partially subsided. The injury was too great and he was already feeling drained. He wished he hadn't left Glaedr's Eldunari in Saphira's saddle bag. The saddle bag! He could have easily grabbed the Eldunari out of the pack. He silently cursed himself for being so stupid. The man with the cloak was running into the distance, as if Eragon had been his prize and he had failed to retrieve his life.

_That's strange, _he pondered.

"Coward!" Shouted a man next to him.

The opposite side fell into chaos without leadership. Eragon stood in front of Annalisa, picking off any soldier who came near enough to pose even the slightest threat. He was forced to leave her when King Orrin needed assistance. He would come for her later.

Saphira was waiting a few hundred feet away, a long gash in her wing. Eragon promptly healed it and leapt onto her back.

_I should keep just half and eye on Annalisa, _he thought, but she was soon forgotten in the heat and bloodlust of the battle.

_Saphira, do you still have the saddle bags?_

_Yes, but they are just hanging on by a strap, _she said. _There's nothing we can do about it now. _

_Glaedr's Eldunari is in there! _Eragon almost said aloud. _Surely you can fly high enough for me to put it…_

_Put it where? _Saphira asked the obvious question. _Honestly Eragon, leave it. Oromis instructed you not to guard it with your life._

Eragon continued to kill behead or mortally wound soldiers in an almost bored fashion. _There isn't going to any left soon,_ he thought.

The midday sun was high in the sky when the last soldiers finally fell to his knees in surrender. It had taken much longer than Eragon had expected. He immediately thought of Annalisa. He hadn't even had time to heal her.

"Galbatorix's army isn't so hot now!" came a cry that had to be Roran's. Eragon hadn't spoken to him in what felt like a life time to him.

_We must find Annalisa, _he said to Saphira wearily.

Saphira flapped lazily over the bodies littering the battleground.

Annalisa lay limp on the ground. The entire length of her leg was had been sliced deeply, through her boot.

_She's hardly breathing, _Saphira noted. _Eragon, you must do something, and quickly!_

_I know! _He fretted, attempting to pull the boot off her leg. The blood had dried quickly in the heat, and the boot dug into the wound. _It's the boot._

_I can—_

_No! I thank you for the offer, but this must be done delicately. _But he feared that even if he managed to close the wound, she had lost too much blood. He thought of what Oromis had told him once when he had broken a jar: _You can repair the jar, but you cannot get the contents back quite so easily. _It was all too true.

Eragon kneeled and watched her pale face as h slowly pulled the boot free of the gash. She did not stir, out cold.

A voice interrupted his concentration. "Eragon!" It was Nasuada. He could hear the hooves of her horse pounding the ground, but he didn't look up.

"What-" Nasuada fell silent when she saw what Eragon was doing. "I shall get help," she murmured.

Eragon was just standing up when Nasuada returned with a healer an a group carrying a stretcher. He staggered from the extreme loss of energy. The edges of his vision were fuzzy black.

"This is my fault," he and Nasuada said simultaneously.

"I shouldn't have let a young woman into battle," Nasuada insisted. "That was a grave mistake on my part."

"I should have restrained her, or at least stayed with her. I should have considered it my duty to protect the only woman in the battle." Eragon sighed. "I've done all I can for her, but it seems as if it will not suffice." He felt dizzy and stumbled again.

Nasuada didn't seem to notice. She looked out into the distance. "It will be," she assured. Then he gaze snapped around to look at Eragon's arm. It was still raw and gory-looking. "However you should not neglect yourself."

"I'm afraid I don't have enough energy to heal myself," he confessed. Stars flashed before his eyes, and his knees buckled. The last thing he remembered was the ground looking an awful lot closer than it should.

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**Wasn't that proud of this chapter, but tell me what you think..**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry about the wait.. Slow week. Or more like weeks. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter! Tell your friends about how awesome and junk it was... Yeah, just read it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Inheritance Cycle. **

**;) Jk I'm Christopher Paolini writing a knock off of my own story. Double JK! Triple jk?..**

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Eragon's eyes snapped open. He was lying in a large tent. .

"This recent turn of events had done nothing but hinder our efforts to overcome the Empire," Nasuada was murmuring in the corner.

Eragon tried to pick up his head and look around, but he ground and let it fall. It throbbed harshly.

"Ah, Eragon," Nasuada said, louder this time. "You've been out for quite some time," she frowned. "This just means another day lost. No matter. If or when are feeling up to it, we start on our journey once more."

He wanted to lie on the cot all day, but, as Nasuada never failed to mention within the span of a few minutes, every second lost could make the difference in defeat. He honestly tried to arise, but the strength eluded him.

"I am very sorry, Nasuada," his shoulders slumped, "but I have not the strength to go on today."

"Nonsense," Nasuada laughed a little hysterically. "Do not blame this upon yourself," she, dropping down on the bed. "Although, you certainly could have been more careful, especially with that Annalisa girl."

"He was a good swordsman!" argued Eragon, and then added causally, "how is Annalisa?"

"She's in a state; I can tell you so much as that Nasuada said, shaking her head regretfully. "It is debatable whether she will make it or not, but, in my honest opinion that is, I think she can make it and still be very useful to us."

_Useful to us? _Saphira had stayed quiet until this point. _She is not a tool, Nasuada._

"Yes I know that," Nasuada said, annoyed. Eragon relayed the words to Saphira, Nasuada having forgotten that Saphira could not hear her. "I am just saying we can utilize her talents, as we do with yours and Eragon's."

"I am at fault for this," Eragon said for the second time. "I need to heal her."

Nasuada closed her eyes and breathed deeply and exasperatedly. "Eragon," she said slowly, "I am tired and do not wish to restrain you. Healing the girl would not very much benefit from you healing her, and it certainly would not benefit you. So please, stay here." She stood up. "Be prepared to depart shortly," she added curtly. "Good day, Eragon."

"Good day, lady Nasuada," Eragon muttered grudgingly, knowing Nasuada was not it such a good mood.

_Humans, _Saphira snorted.

_Yes, humans, _Eragon snapped, _you've been sounding a bit redundant lately, you know._

_To say nothing about you, _Saphira shot back at him.

_You are making it nearly unbearable to stay here. _Eragon wanted to fly with Saphira, find Galbatorix and rip him apart, anything but rest. He hated staying still on while he could be making himself useful.

Despite his spinning head, he hoisted himself up off the cot.

_Eragon, _Saphira reprimanded, _you are not well. If you refrain from returning to your bed, I will roast you into it._

_I suppose that would be very beneficial to my health, _Eragon agreed.

_What are do you think you are going to do? _Saphira rationalized more gently. _Just rest._

Reluctantly, Eragon sank back to the bed, having not gotten more than a pace away before his strength failed him. He curled up and sank into his waking dreams.

The sun shone through the tent flaps.

_Eragon,_ Sheprodded gently with her mind, and stuck her head in the tent. A nurse squealed.

_Good morning, Saphira, _Eragon greeted, feeling subsequently more energized. _You should really get your head out of the tent; it's scaring the maids._

_Nasuada wishes us to leave immediately, _Saphira told him, ignoring the request.

Nasuada had to have been working miracles to be able to gather the whole Varden after a battle, at least Eragon thought.

_It has been nearly two days, Sleepy One, _interrupted Saphira.

Two days?

_Two days? _He repeated. _Nasuada must be furious, then._

_Impatient, yes, but not furious. Not mentioning all the reassuring from Orrin and Arya. _

_Have you heard anything about Annalisa? _Eragon asked anxiously, changing the subject.

_Her condition has been circulating, yes. _

_What have you heard? _Eragon demanded.

_If you insist to know, she is not doing well._

Eragon's heart sank. After all of the miraculous events happening for the Varden, he had mistakenly assumed that she would have a swift recovery. He was wrong.

_She's only one person, _He thought. _Unimportant to the Varden as a whole._

_Do not think that, Little One, _Saphira scolded. _If you did not care for each soldier in your army as an individual, how could you possible succeed in battle? Same for the Varden. Nasuada will not over look her, nor the death of any one of her army._

_She is going to die? Not if I have anything to do with it!  
The prospect it not good, Eragon, _Saphira told him gloomily. _Let her go._

_No! _Eragon firmly. _Why should an innocent life have been taken for my stupidity? _

_This was not your fault, _Saphira tried to soothe, but Eragon was adamant.

_It was my duty to protect her, _he went on. _This _is _my fault! No one's life will be wasted if I can help it! Not anyone's!_

Eragon could sense Saphira puffing smoke, her version a sigh. _The Varden has made the decision to leave the severely injured behind. _

_Without me? _He fumed. _They cannot exclude me from choices of welfare!_

_Please, Eragon, you would have made the same decision. Besides, many attempted to wake you, including myself, but none succeeded. After that, we had no choice to construct a resolution without you._

_I suppose your right, _Eragon said. _Now remove your head from the tent before I… _He failed to come up with a threat that would actually move a dragon.

_Yes, I know you will._

Eragon hauled himself up out of the and ran a hand through his hair, realizing that he probably looked unruly. There was blood smeared on the sheets of the bed.

"I was waiting for you to wake you so I could clean that," a nurse bristled. "Shadeslayer," she added.

Eragon smiled, and her face softened. "Can you tell me where Annalisa is?"

The nurse frowned. "The girl with in infected leg? Infected? Infected with what? This sudden news caught Eragon off guard, for he thought it was blood lose that was ailing her.

_If it were that, _he reasoned, _she would already be gone._

"Yes, I suppose."

"Oh, she's not in good condition," the nurse went on chattily, probably not having anyone to talk to in the dreary setting, besides delirious patients, that is. "The infection has traveled up her leg. She's weak, and her aunt refuses to have her healed by means of magic."

Did Lyra not understand this to be a life or death situation?

_Some people believe magic is the easy way out, _Saphira defended. _Even if it is a life or death situation._

_We'll see if I can't change her mind, _Eragon replied determinedly.

"I shall see if I can make the situation more clear," Eragon promised.

"Thank you, Shadeslayer," The woman said. "Nearly all of our healers are trying to keep the girl alive. We cannot have that much longer. She is three tents down, by the way."

He nodded. "I'll make haste," he assured.

He all but ran straight into the next tent, and would've plowed in, if not for a guard outside the flap.

"Let's slow down, Shadeslayer," he said. "What business have you got in here, anyway?"

"I need to see someone," he said, attempting to push through, but the robust man blocked him.

"I apologize, Shadeslayer, but I am under orders not to let you in."

"Let me speak to Nasuada," Eragon said, a little desperately.

"That will not do you any good," said the guard. "I received the order from Lady Nasuada."

Eragon was shocked. Why should he not be allowed in there? He rudely voiced this opinion to the guard.

"Our honored ambassador Arya is attempting to heal one of our patients."

Arya. He should have known. His heart stopped racing as quickly, as Arya excellent at magic and should be a sufficient healer. Eragon calmed down a bit and went to get the pouch with Glaedr's Eldunari from the saddle bags, feeling suddenly like he needed it with him.

_Do not be distraught, Little One, _Saphira consoled. _Arya will not fail._

_I feel certain she will not, but there is always a chance that someone is so far gone that no one can save them. _

_Fair improvement on your optimism, I see,_ Saphira remarked sarcastically.

When Eragon returned, Arya was slumping out of the tent, shaking her head in dismay.

Eragon rushed up to her. "What's happened?"

"I'm sorry, Eragon," Arya hung her head. "She has only minutes to live. Her aunt wishes you to stay far from here. I advise you to leave her to grieve."

"But—but I can help!" Eragon said, unable to say anything more intelligent.

Arya shook her head. "No. I have preformed every healing spell known to man and elf, short of the few that would take a group of magicians, or even a sorcerer."

Eragon pushed past her. "Well, we have at least to magicians and one sorceress-"

"I am weak, Eragon," Arya interrupted, blocking his way once more, forcefully this time. "Do _not _go in there!" She said so sternly that Eragon jumped.

_Saphira, _Eragon begged up at his dragon circling above, _please, can you not use your own magic?_

_Shock and grief delude you, _Saphira said sadly. _I do not feel inclined to use my powers, so I cannot. And I warn_ _you not to trifle with Arya as you are now. She is in no mood for this; she does not like to fail._

"I can help," Eragon repeated, more confident this time.

"Let her go," Arya said gently.

This infuriated Eragon. How was he to let her go? They all made it seem as if it would be simple.

_No one said it would be simple_

_Be silent! _Eragon ordered. "Please, Arya, let me go in. I can help in some way, I am sure of it."

Arya reluctantly stepped aside, allowing Eragon to enter the tent.

It was quiet and rather dark. The injured groaned and held their severed limbs or gashed body parts. Eragon ached to help them all, but his mind was set on only one.

Her aunt was sitting by the bedside, stroking her hand, truly believing these would be her niece's last moments.

_I'll figure something out, _he told himself, gripping the bag with the Eldunari tight.

"Go!" Hissed Lyra. "Leave! We do not wish to see you!"

But Annalisa smiled weakly. "It is alright, aunt Lyra. What a fool I have been." Her voice was only just a whisper, like the rustle of a gentle breeze through the trees, only noticeable if you are listening for it.

"It wasn't you," Eragon swallowed the lump forming in his throat, seeing there was nothing he could do. He has been deluded thinking her could save her now; it was too late. "It was my fault. I should have—" he swallowed once more, unable to detain the tears stinging his eyes—"I should have protected you."

The whole time Lyra glared venomously from the seat that he been dragged in from Nasuada's things for her, like she could not could not fathom how foolishly Annalisa was spending her last few minutes of life…

"What do you have in the pouch?" Annalisa asked, trying to lift her hand to point at the minute sack that the guilty dragon rider was holding.

Eragon, not knowing why she would notice the insignificant object, held it up. It glowed. He realized that it did not matter if he told Annalisa the secrets of the dragons; they would die with her.

He pressed it into her hand. "This—" she gasped, then writhed on the bed, the glow of the Eldunari the glow of the Eldunari increasing with each passing second. Lyra screamed, but Eragon stood rooted to the spot. What had he done?

It was silent for a moment, then Arya careened nearly careened in Eragon. "What's happened?"

Annalisa now lie still on the cot, her chest heaving.

The elf's eyes locked first on the Eldunari, next on Eragon's face.

"You told them," she murmured, so only Eragon could hear her. Eragon shook his head frantically. "You betrayed the dragon's secret?"

"No!" he burst out, unable to control the flow of tears any longer. They streamed down his face, adding to his already completely unruly appearance.

"I did _not_," he insisted, uncharacteristically failing to keep himself in a rational state of mind. More and more things he did seemed to be out of character for him. "I did not! I—I think he—it healed her."

"I demand to know whatever that is that my niece is holding!" Lyra screamed, seemingly confirming what Eragon had just said.

"Is it not enough that it just healed your niece?" Arya asked. "Look." She lifted the sheet that covered Annalisa. There was no gash in her leg. It was completely healed.

Lyra blinked and picked up the Eldunari. Eragon was just about to pluck the bag out of her hand when a visible chill ran up her spine, and the shackle scars around her wrists vanished. The glow lessened until it was unnoticeable through the bag.

"What is this?" she demanded once again, examining her newly healed wrists and pulling at the draw strings of the bag. They held fast, luckily. "Some covert from of magic I have never heard of?"

Arya lifted the bag from her hand, like it was made of the most precious and rare material in the entire world. Nothing happened. "I say again, is it not enough that this undisclosed form of magic has healed your beloved niece?"

She thought this over a while, and Eragon realized it was possible that she already knew of the Eldunari, being Galbatorix's daughter.

_Possible, but unlikely, _elaborated Saphira._ This is the most guarded secret among the dragons and their riders. Most, if not all, did not even tell the ones they were closest to-_

"We wish to be left alone," Annalisa's aunt's sharp voice interrupted. Eragon was about to protest, but Arya was dragging him out by the arm.

Once outside and far enough that they were in no danger of anyone hearing, her face turned furious. Expecting an apology, Eragon reared back at the sight of the angry elf.

"What do you suppose you were doing," she hissed, venomous as a snake. Eragon almost wished she would yell at him. "Giving Annalisa the Eldunari, have you gone mad?"

Eragon crossed his arms and turned his face away from Arya. "She wanted to see it. I figured it couldn't do any harm. She was about to die!" he huffed. "I saved her life!"

Arya shook her head in disbelief. "You really have gone round the bend," she murmured, and Eragon wanted to kick her. "Maybe it would be better if I kept this." She slipped the strings of the bag onto her wrist, and Eragon could feel all self restraint melting into a puddle at his feet.

"No!" he screamed. Maybe he really had gone round the bend. "You are not a rider, this is my responsibility!" People stared through the morning sun, but Eragon didn't care who was watching.

_Eragon, _Saphira started to say, but Arya cut her short.

"One that you obviously cannot handle!" her face burned with anger. The sane part of Eragon wondered if Arya had ever lost her temper like this before. However, the insane part of him swiped at the bag, and it dislodged it from Arya's wrist. It flew through the air.

Eragon's mind slid back into its practical, sound state. He could only think one thing: The Eldunari was going to shatter into a thousand pieces, and no more would be the wisdom, knowledge and year of experience of the dragon Glaedr who's soul was inside. He would be lost to the void forever, just like his rider, Oromis.

Arya had apparently forgotten her and Eragon's quarrel also, because she leaped into the air, reaching for the Eldunari. Not a moment too soon. It dropped neatly into her hand the second before it hit the hard-packed ground.

"Arya!" Eragon gasped as she hit the ground. He knelt down next to her.

"I see I was correct," she wheezed holding her rib. Eragon knew it had to be broken. "You have one too many things to worry about, Eragon. Let me lighten your load. I will take care of Glaedr well."

Foot step pounded toward them, but Eragon did not look up. He did not need Arya to lighten his load, at least not by taking possession of the Eldunari, though he knew the elf had a passion for dragons as strong as his own.

"What is going on?" Nasuada sounded concerned. "I've left my council meeting to tend to you two. What mess has Eragon gotten into this time?"

"Always me," Eragon almost laughed.

"I'm sorry, Eragon," Nasuada said. "I just am at a loss as to what to think, with Arya lying on the ground."

"Oh, she just saved whatever it is in that bag," Angela said, seemingly emerging out of no where.

Nasuada's eyes widened when she saw what was in Arya's hand. She was the only other person Eragon has confided the secret of the Eldunari to besides Arya.

"I can't imagine what you would be doing with that particular object," Nasuada said through pursed lip, "but we'll speak later. I must return to my council meeting. Eragon, clean yourself up, you look wretched. Arya, if you're feeling up to it, please join us in my tent at noon."

She turned on her heel and traipsed off.

"Blockhead," Angela said in a singsong voice to Eragon, and he realized just how irrational he had been.

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**What happens next? Don't kill me for making this out of character, IT WAS MEANT TO BE THAT WAY. So if you say anything about that I'll haunt you in your sleep. Just Kidding. :D  
Happy Easter!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello, all. Feeling a little discouraged. Guess people aren't liking Eragon/OC. Oh well. Been pretty busy lately, sorry for the wait for the update. Hope you like this one!**

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"I've never seen anything like it," Arya admitted, still holding her tender ribs. They had been unable to find anyone with enough magic to completely heal the ribs, which had punched through her skin, besides Angela, who believed "If you were doing something stupid enough to have that happen, fix it yourself." Eragon had felt guilty enough to nearly drain himself. He felt tired.

"So, the dragon Glaedr healed this Annalisa?" Nasuada sounded astonished. "I was not aware dragons could use magic."

"They normally cannot," Eragon explained, "only when inclined to do so."

"Then Glaedr was 'inclined to do so'?"

"I suppose," said Eragon, unable to formulate a plausible reason for a dragon to care enough to heal a human. Glaedr hadn't been able to heal Oromis.

_He was bleeding to death, _Saphira defended. _It was too late for Oromis._

_We all believed it was too late for Annalisa, _countered Eragon. _Perhaps Glaedr has attained information concerning Annalisa from her words that we could not detect ourselves._

_I doubt that master Glaedr has yet recovered enough from the shock of losing his rider to pay any heed to what is going on around him._

"Perhaps we should speak to Glaedr," Eragon said aloud, but Arya shook her head, her mane of silky black hair rippling.

"No," she said, "he will not speak to you. If anyone should know, it should be you. Of this I am sure: He, at least to some extent, knows Annalisa's life will be valuable in defeating Galbatorix. He may never tell us his exact reasoning, but he has been listening."

"At any rate," Nasuada concluded, "we have been here too long. How much time can we really spend at such a cross roads as this? We need to start moving once again, with all distractions eliminated."

Arya cast a glance at Eragon. Had she detected his feelings for Annalisa?

_It would be difficult not to, _Saphira commented. _The way you were acting in the tent was only too obvious. _

"If possible," Arya assured, throwing Eragon another glance. There was no doubt in his mind: She knew, and he hated it.

"Onward," agreed Eragon. "When do we depart, my lady?"

"Tomorrow afternoon," Nasuada said absently, a slight frown creasing her face.

"Lady Nasuada?"

"Take no heed, Arya," Nasuada replied swiftly. "My mind is clouded lately. No better for my judgment, unfortunately… No matter, prepare to depart. Eragon, would you and Saphira fly over head and find where the women and children have their encampment? I suspect they are very anxious to see their husbands and fathers, for they have not been permitted on the battle ground. Inform them that they now are, as of today."

"Yes lady."

_Try not to woo any more young ladies,_ Saphira teased.

_I'll try._

The wind suggested that the weather was cold and biting, instead of bright and clear, and the sunlight that fell on the backs of Eragon and Saphira was not warm.

The women and children gathered in a flock at the edge of a crude encampment. Eragon could hear them murmuring and smiled.

"Shadeslayer, Shadeslayer!" the children pointed high in the sky. Their mothers glanced up worriedly, ready to pull their children back if Saphira was to land. Eragon could see Katrina, standing fearlessly apart from the rest of the crowd.

When he and Saphira landed, she hurried over to the two.

"Do you have news of Roran?" She asked anxiously, rubbing circles on her distended stomach.

"I have news for everyone," Eragon confirmed, raising his voice, "Lady Nasuada is now permitting all women and children to the battle field to see their families. We depart tomorrow afternoon."

Several of the women sighed or groaned. "Can you not sway Lady Nasuada into letting us stay a while longer?" one asked him boldly. She was a petite woman with pale hair and a tan face. There were two children clinging to her skirt. "My children are sick of out nomadic patterns."

Eragon shook his head. How many times had he tried to convince Nasuada of just this? "I have tried, but Lady Nasuada is set on defeating the Empire, and nothing will stand in her way."

Most of the women away in mass, but Katrina lingered behind.

"Did you hear of the young woman who went into battle?" she asked, and Eragon started, wondering how the women and children "She couldn't have been older than you are"

He nodded soberly. "Yes, I heard about that. She was healed earlier this morning."

"She actually survived?" Katrina looked flabbergasted.

"Of course she survived," Eragon said matter-of-factly. Katrina gave him a curious look.

"You sound as if you know her personally."

Eragon hesitated, contemplating whether or not he should confide in Katrina. She and Roran were older sibling figures to him. "Sort of," he decided not to. "Nasuada thinks that she will be useful," he continued, not straying beyond simple facts. Katrina liked to mull through situations, find what really lay there. "Her grandfather is Galbatorix."

"Interesting," Katrina said, seemingly enough in a bored tone, but Eragon could still hear the note of surprise in her voice. "Well, I ought to go find Roran. Is he well?"

Eragon remembered that he has meant to speak with Roran. Perhaps he would go with Katrina. "As far as I know," he said, leaning against one of Saphira's spikes by accident. He winced.

_Clumsy, _Saphira accused.

Katrina smiled.

"He wasn't in either of the hospital tents," Eragon ignored the jibe and massaged his side.

"You were in the hospital tents?" there she went again, analyzing the situation carefully and entirely.

"Yes," Eragon said carefully. He stared off into an unmarked place in the distance, as if it would make them harder to read.

Katrina flipped her copper hair over her shoulder in an exasperated manner. "I am not sure what you are choosing not to tell me, Eragon," She said, "but secrets shall remain secrets with you, I suppose. I'll not bother you anymore, but I am curious about the girl. What is her name?" She inquired.

Eragon straightened and stood to mount Saphira, realizing what Katrina was trying to do. "I... I am not sure," he said swiftly.

"Oh," Katrina said, sounding a bit disappointed. "If you ever need to speak with me, you have but to ask. Anything and it is yours."

Eragon withdrew his hand. "I just may take you up on that offer one day," he assured.

Katrina hurried off after the rest of the women and children, falling into step with the woman with the two children.

It was hardly mid-morn, but Eragon felt as if it could have been late into the night. Saphira's wings pumped steadily through the air, and he let his mind drift, his eyes wandering over the scenery, still exhausted from having healed Arya. Vultures circled around an area a ways off. The bodies of the men who weren't so fortunate as to make it out of the battle alive. The ones that had no family, or no suitable place to be buried. It was sickening to think that Annalisa could have been among that pile of remains, lying dead on the ground.

_What are we to do with you? _Saphira said lazily. _You obviously need something to keep you from these morbid thoughts. _

But what could he do?

Saphira landed by Nasuada's tent with a thump that Nasuada apparently recognized, because she emerged from the tent. She watched the children winding though the maze of tents, and the mothers running after them, and smiled contently when a toddler disturbed a flock of sheep grazing not too far away.

"They shouldn't have been nibbling there anyway," she said, looking more relaxed than Eragon could remember seeing her since before she led the Varden.

Before he could even say anything, she cut it. "You have the rest of the day to yourself, Eragon," she said, and Eragon wondered what could have her in such high sprits.

His shoulders slumped. "I was hoping you wouldn't say that," he muttered, but Nasuada has already turned and gone back into her tent.

Eragon's mind strayed back to Annalisa. _Maybe we should see her? _He asked Saphira.

_We saved her life scarcely two hours ago, _she replied. _At the very least give her aunt time to figure what she is going to make of us, else she may never speak to us again._

Eragon bit his lip. He did not even have a tent to rest in a present. _We'll just see if she's woken up._

Saphira swung her tail in front of Eragon bar his way, a move that she almost never made. _No, _she said firmly. _Make yourself useful in some other way._

They found an out-of-the-way tree, and Eragon took Domia abr Wyrda out of the saddle bag and leaned against the tree, the book open in his lap. He flipped to a section about the Foresworn, and glanced over the words. His eyes began to droop and the letters began to swim…

Eragon awoke and stretched under the long leafy branches of the tree. He knew Domia abr Wyrda was in no danger of being stolen, as the members of the council had many copies, and no fool would cross Saphira. Even if she was asleep, as now she was.

Eragon tucked the book under his arm, not wanting to risk putting it back in the saddle bag and waking Saphira. He blocked off his mind, just in case she woke up.

When he approached the tent, it was dead silent.

A healer poked her head out of the tent and curtsied. "Shadeslayer, if you're looking for the girl, she left not too long ago. After she woke up, that is. We insisted on giving her and her aunt a tent to stay in so she could rest, but she certainly did not look as if she needed it."

"Thank you," Eragon said warmly.

"We should be the ones thanking you, Shadeslayer," said the woman. "You've freed up so many healers you wouldn't believe. So many of them were trying to keep that girl alive on Nasuada's orders."

_Nasuada's orders? _The leader of the Varden must have thought Annalisa more valuable than Eragon had discerned.

Eragon then realized he had forgotten in inquire which tent was the two women's. The cook tents were easy enough to distinguish, with the appetizing wafting from them, but there must have been hundreds of others.

For the next few minutes he searched, listening to noise coming from some of the tents, fearful to go in incase something private was inside. He would have looked much longer, except he saw Nasuada steal into one of them, and felt sure that it must be the one.

He walked up and rapped on the tent pole. Nasuada peeked through the flap.

"Lady Nasuada?" Eragon asked, attempting to look surprised.

Nasuada smiled and shook her head. "You knew I was here, Eragon. I can tell. Please, come in. If it is alright with Lyra, that is."

It was Annalisa's voice that Eragon heard, not Lyra's.

"Of course it's alright," she said sweetly. "My aunt was just telling Lady Nasuada a story." She threw her aunt an expectant look.

"Of course I was," she murmured, sounding irritated.

Eragon entered the tent.

There was a cot in the middle of the smallish space, and two chairs, one of which Annalisa was sitting and the other of which her leg was propped up on. It was wrapped, despite there being no injury there. Nasuada stood and Lyra sat on the bed.

"Sorry," Annalisa said, moving her leg. "The healer insisted upon me doing this when I said my leg still ached a bit. It seems I keep having mortal wounds healed by Eragon… Please, Lady Nasuada, I should have offered you this seat when you came in." Maybe she didn't favor Eragon as much as he thought…

Nasuada shook her head. "I would rather stand. Sit down, Eragon."

Eragon backed awkwardly into the chair and sat down beside Annalisa. She leaned in, dangerously close.

"I do not know how to thank you," she whispered. Eragon's face burned. "You saved my life." Her voice was sincere.

"You are very welcome," he murmured, ducking his head down so Nasuada would not see the color in his cheeks.

Annalisa smiled and squeezed Eragon's hand, and he didn't relinquish her grasp. His heart raced.

"Aunt Lyra," she prodded, "you were saying about how we came to be here. From the beginning."

"Annalisa, that is a very long, painful story," her aunt warned.

Nasuada shrugged indifferently. "I have all of the rest of the day. Besides, the very reason I came here was to here your story."

Lyra took a deep breath and began. "I am the daughter of Galbatorix. I have two siblings. Sadly, they both disappeared many years ago-" Nasuada looked sympathetic—"and I am not sure if they are dead or alive. I suppose they do not want to be known, as I did not for many years. Where we were raised, in hiding of course, we were told never to tell out names, hoping to fade into the background over time. We were taught to fear names, and this tactic succeeded: We were forgotten, if we were ever known.

"My mother left my older brother, my younger sister, and myself when we were young, and we lived with a nurse. She was like a mother to us. But like so many of the people in my life, one day she just disappeared, never to be heard from again. This left my brother to care for my sister and me, because we dare not go to out father and ask him to take us in; it would have been too much to ask, for he was experimenting with dark magic at the time, and was unstable. So my brother, cared for us for many years, until I had grown and it took both of us to look after our younger sister, who was constantly running off. And then, in late autumn if I remember correctly, I came to my brother to seek help, and he was gone. Simply vanished, like we had been encouraged to do by everyone when we were young. I was devastated, but my sister did not seem plagued by out situation. Perhaps she just did not care, but I had always felt as if I had been excluded from a secret, long ago.

"At the time, I was betrothed to the most wonderful man you would have ever met. He was tall, dark, and handsome. He was a soldier, and promised when he came back from his next mission, we would be married and he would never go off again. So, still in grief from the disappearance of my brother, I bade him farewell and off he went, with a date in mind that he and the rest of the soldiers. I was wrong. The day he was to come back, I came to the center of the small village where we lived, and waited. Wounded soldiers trickled in, some carrying their dead comrades, but my love did not come back. I waited and waited. Night fell, and I sat in the village. My sister, who was pregnant at the time, tried to get me to return to my home, but I would not leave the square. Finally, two weeks waiting in the square behind me, we received word that every soldier in the platoon that had not returned was presumed dead. My sister had her husband take me back to my home, and they both tried repeatedly attempted to make me eat, but I refused. One after another, they were all gone. My brother, my betrothed. And then my sister. A few days after she has her baby, there was a knock on my door, and some unseen force compelled me to rise from where I had been sitting so long, and there was a child sitting on my doorstep. I saw a flash of fabric around the corner, but did not have the strength to follow it. I suspect that was the last I've ever seen of my younger sister.

The child, I expect, was the only reason why I ever rose from my place, the place there I was to die. The child was Annalisa."

"You've never told me any of this!" Annalisa interjected.

Lyra shook her head. Nasuada looked on the verge of tears, and Eragon was enticed by the story, though he wished that she would have told more of when she was a child and her visits to Galbatorix.

Nasuada blinked rapidly and straightened up. "It seems you've had a tedious life," she said sympathetically. "Why not settle down—relatively speaking—with the Varden?"

Eragon thought Annalisa looked as if she liked the prospect. "I would like that she murmured," at the same time her aunt spoke over her.

"We may stay for a while," Lyra said, "but we've been nomads all our lives. I am not sure I will ever give up this life style. Perhaps we will search for my lost siblings."

"I'd like to settle down," Annalisa said quietly.

Her aunt laughed softly. "We have tried, my darling. You know how restless you become."

Annalisa smiled, and Eragon thought he would follow her across two worlds just to see it everyday. "I think my thirst for adventure has died down… at least a bit."

"Of course you have, love."

The ground rumbled and a growl came from outside the tent.

Nasuada wrinkled her nose. "Saphira?"

Eragon sighed. He had nearly forgotten her. "Err, I—she was asleep when I came here. Wonderful story."

Annalisa let go of his hand, and he hoped that Nasuada and Lyra hadn't noticed that she has been holding it the entire time…

_Eragon! _Saphira growled. _I told you to leave them be!_

Eragon gave her a sideways glance. _Nasuada was going to visit and I thought I would accompany her._

_Is Annalisa alright? _Saphira asked with a razor sharp edge.

_She's fine, _Eragon said, a bit smugly. _She says she is forever in my debt for saving her life twice._

Saphira puffed black smoke. _Right._

* * *

**Sort of a weird ending, but I REALLY wanted to get this one over and up. Tell me what you think of the whole Eragon/OC thing, and I'll keep coming up with ideas, otherwise, I'll just get bored and write somethin' else D:  
Thanks for the reviews and I hope you guys keep it up!**


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